On your visit to the Blue Mountains, the first stop you should not miss is Echo Point. The lookout lets you enjoy the impressive views of Jamison Valley and other scenic attractions nearby.
It is best to view the place when the crowds have dispersed so you can experience a colourful highland sunset.
Views from Echo Point
On Echo Point, a lookout that perched on an edge of an escarpment near Katoomba, you can see the panoramic landscape and breathtaking views of Jamison Valley.
On the left stands the Three Sisters sandstone formation. At the centre left lies Mount Solitary where the Ruined Castle stands visible. On the far right stretches the Narrow Neck Plateau. They enclose the valley below.
If you take the scenic skyway, you can have a bird’s eye view of the valley. You can also view the magnificent Katoomba Falls 270 metres above the ground.
Jamison Valley
An integral part of Coxs River’s canyon system, the Jamison Valley is one of the best scenic attractions of New South Wales’ Blue Mountains.
Surrounded by mountain ranges, ridges, canyons, plateaus, cliffs, and sandstone formations, the valley nestles about 100 kilometres west of Sydney. Measuring about 10 kilometres wide, it extends from Katoomba to the ridge of Mount Solitary and from Narrow Neck Plateau in the west to Kings Tableland in the east.
The valley’s history
Jamison Valley’s original inhabitants were the indigenous Gundungurra Aboriginals who have been in the area for 40,000 years. To honour Sir John Jamison, a doctor and a prominent landowner, Governor Lachlan Macquarie named the region Jamison Valley in 1815.
In 1836, the famous British naturalist Charles Darwin visited the valley and he was impressed by the views of Wentworth Falls. Darwin’s Walk was named after the biologist, the trail stretches from Wilson Park to an escarpment overlooking Wentworth Falls.
Bushwalking
From Echo Point, there are several bushwalking trails traversing the valley to many different lookouts and scenic sites including Wentworth Falls, the Ruined Castle, Mount Solitary, and Kings Tableland. Many guided bushwalking services are available in the area.
Watercourses
Covered with eucalypt forests and lush vegetation, Jamison Valley is also lined with waterways, rivers and waterfalls that, for thousands of years, carved and jagged escarpments, ridges, and plateaus into the catch basin of the valley.
Jamison Creek, Gordons Creek, Causeway Creek, Kedumba River, Leura Falls Creek, and the Valley of the Waters Creek run across the valley. And the waterfalls dotting the region are Katoomba Falls, Wentworth Falls, Vera Falls, Gordon Falls, Empress Falls, and Leura Falls. These waters flow to Coxs River and Lake Burragorang.
